The verdict is in on Rashad McCoy, and a Pasadena jury says he’s not guilty in the killing of Joseph Jones.

Considering it was a first-degree murder trial in a case prosecutors felt very sure of, and that two witnesses identified the 25-year-old McCoy as the shooter of the 23-year-old Jones, the decision was remarkably swift. After a two-week-long trial, the jury deliberated just seven hours before delivering its not-guilty verdict.

Jones’ parents lashed out swiftly. They’re just sure that the right person was arrested, charged and held to trial in the killing of their son.

But it seems fairly clear that the jury was able to come back so quickly with its verdict because of enormous bungling on the part of the Pasadena Police Department, which opened up for the jury precisely what it needed to hear to say “not guilty”: reasonable doubt.

That’s because the defense was able to introduce a tape recording in which Pasadena detectives shot themselves and their case in the foot.

Witnesses Juan Mendoza and Jose Magana testified that Pasadena detectives William Broghamer and Cuong Pham had pressured them to identify McCoy as the shooter. Contreras introduced to the jury a tape from a witness interview in which Broghamer is heard saying he would “just pin it on anybody” to a colleague.

That tape recording was from the tail end of a witness interview. The cynicism exhibited by Broghamer fits right into a pattern of extra-judicial arrogance exhibited by Pasadena police in recent years that has the community questioning the department’s behavior and its basic values. This news group has detailed a terrifying pattern of police misconduct within the PPD. Is getting the conviction — even if it’s just “anybody” who does the hard time — more important than convicting the right person? That’s the question many in the community are asking.

And the Police Department, so far, at least, does not seem to have a good answer.